This application relates to refrigerant systems that incorporate both an economizer cycle and a reheat coil in several unique configurations to provide better dehumidification performance as well as temperature and humidity control.
Refrigerant systems are utilized to control the temperature and humidity of air in various environments. In a typical refrigerant system, a refrigerant is compressed in a compressor and delivered to a condenser. In the condenser, heat is exchanged between outside ambient air and the refrigerant. From the condenser, the refrigerant passes to an expansion device, at which the refrigerant is expanded to a lower pressure and temperature, and then to an evaporator. In the evaporator, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant and the indoor air, to condition the indoor air. When the refrigerant system is operating, the evaporator cools the air that is being supplied to the indoor environment. In addition, as the temperature of the indoor air is lowered, moisture usually is also taken out of the air. In this manner, the humidity level of the indoor air can also be controlled.
In some cases, the temperature level, to which the air is brought to provide a comfort environment in a conditioned space, may need to be higher than the temperature that would provide the ideal humidity level. This has presented design challenges to refrigerant system designers. One way to address such challenges is to utilize various schematics incorporating reheat coils. In many cases, the reheat coils, placed on the way of indoor air stream behind the evaporator, are employed for the purpose of reheating the air supplied to the conditioned space after it has been overcooled in the evaporator, where the moisture has been removed.
One of the options available to a refrigerant system designer to increase efficiency is a so-called economizer cycle. In the economizer cycle, a portion of the refrigerant flowing from the condenser is tapped and passed through an economizer expansion device and then to an economizer heat exchanger. This tapped refrigerant subcools a main refrigerant flow that also passes through the economizer heat exchanger. The tapped refrigerant leaves the economizer heat exchanger, usually in a vapor state, and is injected back into the compressor at an intermediate compression point (or in between the compressor stages, in case multi-stage compression is utilized). The main refrigerant is additionally subcooled after passing through the economizer heat exchanger. The main refrigerant then passes through a main expansion device and an evaporator. This main flow will have a higher cooling capacity due to additional subcooling obtained in the economizer heat exchanger. An economizer cycle thus provides enhanced system performance. In an alternate arrangement, a portion of the refrigerant is tapped and passed through the economizer expansion device after being passed through the economizer heat exchanger (along with the main flow). In all other aspects this arrangement is identical to the configuration described above.
As mentioned above, another option available to a refrigerant system designer is to include a reheat coil into the system schematics. As known, at least a portion of the refrigerant upstream of the expansion device is passed through a reheat heat exchanger and then is returned back to the main circuit. At least a portion of a conditioned air, having passed over the evaporator for the moisture removal and humidity control, is then passed over this reheat heat exchanger to be reheated to a desired temperature.
Recently, the assignee of this application has developed a system that combines the reheat coil and economizer cycle. However, variations of this basic concept have yet to be fully developed.